Cryptocurrency: a new tool for the impact economy

Canadian fintech Impak Finance has sold over a million dollars’ worth of impak Coins, the first legal cryptocurrency in North America.

Impak Finance’s mission is to drive the social impact economy. “We want to give people a platform to support the impact economy and be rewarded for their actions. Our hope is for users’ money to become a catalyst for social change,” said Paul Allard, co-founder of Impak Finance.

Paul Allard, co-founder of Impak Finance

Anyone who has followed Impak Finance from the outset will remember its official launch back in October 2016: the company launched an equity-crowdfunding campaign to create a bank specializing in impact investing. The goal was to create a transparent and collaborative financial ecosystem where people could invest in initiatives that reflect their values. Fast forward two months: the fintech raised close to $1.5 million from 1,548 investors. “The success of this campaign was a very encouraging sign, but creating a bank doesn’t happen overnight, and more importantly, it takes much more money. For that reason, creating a cryptocurrency seemed like the best way to gradually reach our goal. Once we have enough impak Coin users, we’ll be able to create the bank we’ve been talking about since we started this adventure.”

Impak Finance’s current campaign is therefore very different from last year’s. “On August 21, we decided to launch the public presale of impak Coin, the first cryptocurrency dedicated to the impact economy and fully compliant with Canadian laws,” explained Paul Allard. To support the launch of this cryptocurrency, Impak Finance has created a social network called impak.eco, an ecosystem that brings together three types of stakeholders: businesses that sell products or services with a social or environmental impact, individuals, and investors. “Individuals and businesses are the backbone of our model, because they are the ones who will drive the transition toward the impact economy and make it stronger. Today’s new generation of entrepreneurs realize that maximizing profits is not enough; it’s important to come up with solutions to a social or environmental problem, just as companies like Loop Juice, Téo Taxi or Alvéole are doing. Their enthusiasm will give investors the confidence to invest in our ecosystem.”

Intended for everyday use, transactions in the impak.eco ecosystem are free for merchants and customers. Users are rewarded for their participation with impak Coins, which impak Finance views as an incentive for everyone to continue building the impact economy. “In creating impak Coin, we were greatly inspired by complementary currencies because they encourage local consumption; however, we aspire to be a global cryptocurrency that can act as a bridge between the various impact communities around the world.” To prevent the speculation that’s often associated with cryptocurrencies, the impak Coin is valued at $1 Canadian and will be reviewed every quarter based on supply and demand.

To-date, impak Coins have been issued to over 2,200 people from 72 countries (including the United States, New Zealand, England, France and Italy), who have made an average investment of $500. In total, over 1.5 million Impak Coins have been issued.